Wayne Rooney absence gives us a chance, says Moldova assistant

By Simon AustinBBC Sport

Last updated on .From the section Footballcomments153

Wayne Rooney

Moldova assistant manager Ion Testemitanu believes the absence of Wayne Rooney will give his side a chance against England on Friday.

The striker will miss the World Cup qualifier because of injury.

"Rooney not playing is very, very big for us - we are very lucky," Testemitanu, who played for Bristol City from 1998 to 2001, told BBC Sport.

"Andy Carroll not playing is also good news. We have a chance now. Anyone can win on any day."

Moldova are 141st in the Fifa rankings - 138 places below England.

And Testemitanu, the only Moldovan to have played professional football in England, admits his side will be huge underdogs when the sides meet at the 10,400-capacity Zimbru stadium in Chisinau on Friday.

"We are realistic and understand who England are and will be careful from the first minute to the 90th," he said.

"England are always very good - there are no secrets. I saw how they played at Euro 2012 and was impressed.

"We are a young team and a young country, with a population of only four million."

In the absence of Rooney, Testemitanu thinks captain Steven Gerrard will be the key player for England.

"I think he is the best player in the team," he said. "Gerrard is the captain and leader and makes key passes and shots. In every game he shows that he is still a top player."

The 38-year-old has fond memories of his time in England and says he has been "dreaming of this game for a long, long time".

He played at Bristol City by then manager Tony Pulis, who had been impressed with his performances in the 1998 World Cup qualifiers against England.

The pair are still in contact, and Testemitanu recently spent time at Stoke City as part of his Uefa Pro Licence course.

"Tony helped me a lot when I arrived in Bristol," he said. "It was hard to adapt at first. I came from an ex-USSR country which was very strict. I was arriving in a capitalist country where I could do whatever I wanted and I did not know what to do.

"I didn't know the language, how to dress, how to behave, nothing. None of the players had even heard of Moldova. One of them said Moldova was the only white country in Africa and everyone believed it.

"But I became good friends with Scott Murray, Brian Tinnion and the chief scout Tony Fawthrop and gradually I started to fit in."

Testemitanu also had a starring role in the book - recently made into a filmexternal-link - "Playing the Moldovans at Tennis", in which the English comedian Tony Hawks tracked down each member of the 1997 Moldovan football team and played them at tennis.

Testemitanu's daughter, Anaexternal-link, took up tennis following the match and is now the number-one ranked junior player in Moldova.

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153 comments

  • Rooney is poor at best at international level. England are better without him and this is proven statistically.

  • It gives us encouragement as well

  • 11 "At his very best Rooney is better than Messi"

    That'd be Dave Messi, usually found sprawled unconscious over the snooker table in the Dog & Duck.

  • Everyone says Crouch only terrorises the "lesser teams" and does nothing against the top tier sides.
    Why don't we have a team of "lesser team bullies" (such as Crouch) who'll get us through these tricky away ties? They can then make way fro those more suited to the top sides when we have to face them.
    It'll maybe save Wayne a few yellow cards if nothing else...

  • Love the fans who say Rooney is overrated on here...cand then suggest Carroll and Welbeck upfront!

  • Rooney is pretty pants for England, but that never stopped Gerrard being picked or made captain.

    Gerrard is well past it!

  • #69
    Euro 2012 - 2 games without Rooney resulted in a draw and win. 2 games with Rooney resulted in a draw and a win.

    So no, England are pretty much the same with Rooney as without.

  • Anyhow, I'm sure WE have a better chance without Rooney. He should have been dropped after the Algeria game in 2010 when he had a go at England fans who had spent a fortune travelling to watch England in South Africa. He may be a good player (NOT GREAT), but he is a truly loathsome individual who does not deserve the honour of wearing the once-proud Three Lions.
    Defoe should start up front IMO.

  • Rooney is Over-Rated. Especially at International level. England seem to do better without him, Such a different player to who he was when he first came on to the International scene. Hungry, energetic, everywhere on the pitch, these days he's slow try's to link up play but fails. should have Andy Carroll(when fit) & Danny Welbeck upfront.

  • Rooney shouldn't be picked for England alongside the rest of the England squad on account of most of their performances in the Euros. Don't cary what anyone says.

    Also, what has any of this news article got to do with Liverpool? Commentors on here as deluded as the England fans that reckon they'll win the 2014 World Cup.

  • Until England can stop ,
    >Pass back to defence
    >kick ball as hard as possible to wingers
    >lose ball
    >defend
    >kick ball as hard as possible to wingers
    >lose ball

    Yeah ... hopefully Carrick can pick some passes to the forwards than having to watch the ball float over his head more times than Spain string passes together.

  • Wayne Rooney absence gives us a chance, says Moldova assistant

    Wayne Rooney absence gives us a chance, says England assistant

    We're agreed then.

  • @66 Kam - As an Everton fan, I have memories of when he was brutally good, which is why he went for £30m to MU. He is not the same player.

  • Are you people even watching Rooney? He hasn't played a decent game since he was 18. No surprise that AF is finally looking to offload him.

    Did you see his performance in the Euros? Truly abysmal - the only reason he's in the England side is there's nobody much better, and managers will be slated if they lose without the over-hyped Rooney. England are not good these days.

  • "He was signed for Bristol City by then manager Tony Pulis, who had been impressed with his performances in the 1998 World Cup qualifiers against England."

    That's odd, seeing as he was signed for Bristol City by Benny Lennartsson in December 1998, a full eight months before Pulis arrived.

  • 'Wayne Rooney absence gives us a chance, says Moldova assistant' - my sentiments too ... better without him

  • Yeah sure Moldova, we're really gonna miss him, he has been in scintillating club and international form recently after all. We'll probably miss Carroll more to be honest, long balls/set pieces and tight defence are pretty much the only things we can do well at the moment, although the latter is even in doubt given John Terry's inclusion...

  • its Moldova...
    We could play a team entirely consisted of blue square premier league players and still get the job done and give some unlikelies a cap for England

  • Shrek has done nothing for Ingerlund, he sold his soul to the devil when he left the super toffees. He will live to regret that day.

  • I would've thought the inclusion of Gerrard would have been more of a morale booster for Moldova.

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